August 25, 2009

Back off Walmart

Bloggers across North America are picking up the banner for free speech by doing their bit to spread the word about Walmart’s outrageous request for a court injunction against www.walmartworkerscanada.ca, the long-standing and award winning labour rights website created for Walmart “associates” and maintained by UFCW Canada.

In the past five years, blogs (which are basically web pages that serve as personal journals) have become a main source of information for an increasing number of internet users, and, as a result, are becoming more and more influential. Blogs are maintained by a wide variety of people, and in some cases have loyal readerships in the tens of thousands.

The idea of a corporation meddling with a non-corporate website is something that does not sit well with the growing number of people who blog and take freedom of speech and their digital rights very seriously.

Unfortunately for Walmart, bloggers generally have vast email networks and often serve the World Wide Web as opinion leaders.

“A very large and growing number of people representing a wide variety of concerns are really starting to realize the importance of this issue,” says UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley.

“This injunction request by Walmart isn’t just about www.walmartworkerscanada.ca; it’s about a massive multinational corporation using its vast wealth to try to undermine a social justice organization’s ability to effectively communicate. This is a fight that we all have an interest in fighting – and winning.”

The Quebec Superior Court is expected to hear Walmart’s argument for an injunction againstwww.walmartworkerscanada.ca sometime in the fall.